Prabhupāda: So in your country the situation is different. You see? The boys and girls are freely mixing, and from school, college, they are freely mixing, free sex without any restriction. So we cannot enforce, at least, at the present moment. If some boy and some girl agree, then I bless him. That's all. Now another thing, that girls should not be taken as inferior. You see? Sometimes... Of course, sometimes scripture we say that "Woman is the cause of bondage." So that should not be, I mean to say, aggravated. (laughs) That should not be aggravated, that "Woman is inferior," or something like that. So the girls who come, you should treat them nicely, at least. I heard that Gargamuni, after his wife left him, he became a woman-hater like that. (chuckles) That is not good. You see? Yes. After all, anyone who is coming to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, man or woman, boys or girls, they are welcome. They are very fortunate. You see. And the idea of addressing "prabhu" means "you are my master." That is the... Prabhu means master. And Prabhupāda means many masters who bows down at his lotus feet. That is Prabhupāda. So each, everyone shall treat others as "My master." This is the Vaiṣṇava system.
Inferior (Conversations)
Expressions researched:
"inferior"
|"inferior's"
|"inferiorities"
|"inferiority"
|"inferiors"
Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Bhagavān's rāsa-līla is very confidential. It is not for ordinary man. (Hindi) So, step by step (Hindi). Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa rāsa-līla, Kṛṣṇa with young girls dancing, embracing, kissing, just like ordinary novel and nātha. They like it. So these professional Bhāgavata readers, they take advantage of the people's inferior quality, of their weakness, and make money. That's all.
Guest: That's why I wanted to know...
Prabhupāda: Yes. They make money.
Guest: ...the real significance, that spiritual...
Prabhupāda: The significance..., there is no significance. These professional Bhāgavata readers, they make money from the public because public wants to hear all these things. Just like we read a novel-a woman is embracing a man, or kissing or having sex. They like it. Therefore they go the Bhāgavata Tenth Canto immediately. Their Bhāgavata reading is professional, not understanding of Kṛṣṇa. If you want to understand Kṛṣṇa, then go step by step, one by one. First of all read Bhagavad-gītā, try to understand, and you surrender to Kṛṣṇa as Kṛṣṇa says, then you enter. Just like after passing entrance examination you enter into the college. Similarly, when you are qualified in accepting Kṛṣṇa as all in all, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam (BG 18.66), then you enter into Bhāgavata. Bhāgavata is the graduate study, not ordinary study.
1972 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: After getting good attachment, one gives up the inferior attachment.
Guest: Right. That will better right. The attachment should be to God.
Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa.
Guest: Kṛṣṇa, Govinda, es I will call Him.
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes.
Guest: Attachment should be to Govinda, not to an organization.
Prabhupāda: Yes. No. Govinda is absolute. Govinda and Govinda's organization the same. Govinda is absolute.
Guest: I don't want to discuss it, I told you. I'm not competent to discuss. I'm just telling you what I think.
Prabhupāda: No. I'm also answering this point. Just like Kṛṣṇa, His name, His form, His pastimes, His entourage, they are all the same. Otherwise, what is the benefit of chanting Kṛṣṇa's name? Suppose I am thirsty just now. If I simply chant the name of water, "water," I'll not be satisfied. Water is required, actual substance. But when you chant "Kṛṣṇa," if Kṛṣṇa name is different from Kṛṣṇa, then you... (end)
Prabhupāda: This attachment increases. The material attachment. The material attachment means "I am this body, and because I have got this body in a particular place, that is my country." And that is going on. "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am German," "I am this," "I am that," this bodily... "This is my country. I shall sacrifice everything for my country, society." So in this way the illusion becomes increased. So under this illusion, when he dies he gets another body. That may be a superior body or inferior body according to his karma. So if he gets superior body, then that is also entanglement. Even if he goes to the heavenly planet, that is entanglement. And if he becomes cats and dogs, then his life's lost. A tree. There is every chance. So this science is not known in the world, that how the soul is transmigrating from one body to another and how he's being entrapped in different types of body. This science is unknown. Therefore when Arjuna was speaking from the bodily concept of life that "If I kill my brother, if I kill my grandfather, the other side..." So he was simply thinking on the basis of bodily concept of life. But when it was not solved he surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, accepted Him as spiritual master. And when Kṛṣṇa became his spiritual master He chastised him in the beginning. Aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase (BG 2.11), that "You are talking like learned man, but you are a fool number one because you are talking on the bodily concept of life." So this sex life increases the bodily concept of life. Therefore the whole process is to reduce it to nil.
Martin: But how can I know with my inferior brain...
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Martin: ...who has the best brain?
Prabhupāda: That you can understand. Just like you are a scientist friend. You can do something which I cannot do. That much I must accept that you have got better brain. What is the difficulty?
Martin: But... How can I know?
Prabhupāda: You can know directly that "He is doing better than me." What is the difficulty? I can see... Just like all my disciples, they are following me. Why? Because they understand that "Our spiritual master explains about God better than us." Therefore they are surrendering. I am not bribing them. They are not fools. They have got very nice brain to act. So they accept me as the spiritual master brain because they understand it that "He can explain about God better than me." Where is the difficulty? These, all my disciples, surrenders unto me because they have found in me a better brain in explaining what is God. Direct perception.
Prabhupāda: Yes, propaganda. That is the cause of India's cultural falldown. These Britishers simply made propaganda that "Whatever you have got in India, this is all allegory, fiction. These śāstras are nothing. But now you are learning from us England's work in India, that is your real... You are becoming civilized now. Otherwise, you are in the utopia, and all these śāstras, throw it out." Because that was Lord Macauley's policy. Lord Macauley was sent to report how Indians can be governed nicely. So he reported that if you keep the Indians as Indians, you will never be able to govern them, because they are superior. You make propaganda that they are inferior and they will imitate you and then you can... That they did.
Jayatīrtha: The Indians would never be able to compete on the Britishers' platform.
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes. Confirm the symptoms. If he says: "Yes," then immediately diagnosis is there. And as soon as diagnosis is there, the medicine is there. Simple method. Similarly, astrologers, they will see the constellation of the stars, and then the formula is there. "If this star is now with this star, if that planet is with that planet, then this is the result." So this Āyurvedic astrologer and physician requires little clear brain. Otherwise, very nice. The research work is already there. Just like we are. What is our research? Kṛṣṇa says: paras tasmāt tu bhāvaḥ anyaḥ (BG 8.20). "There is another nature." We believe it. We have not gone to another nature. But Kṛṣṇa says: "There is another nature, spiritual nature." This is, this material nature, inferior nature, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4), apareyam, this is inferior. Apareyam itas tv anyāṁ prakṛtiṁ viddhi me parām (BG 7.5). There is another superior nature. What is that? The living force. Who will argue? So we have got very easy method. And because we are receiving all this information from the most perfect, therefore our knowledge is perfect. That's all. And for all these rascals, śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). Unnecessarily they're laboring. They cannot come to the right conclusion. Therefore harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāh. Oh, what is the good quality? If you unnecessarily work without any result, then what is your qualification?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: ...inferior and the superior.
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. That they're actually seeing every day.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Handling every day. Still they'll not. Dog's obstinacy. That's all. They're seeing practically, that the material energy cannot work independently unless the spiritual energy joins. So how they can expect the whole cosmic manifestation, which is matter only, has come out automatically? We are practically seeing, a very nice car, Cadillac. But if there is no driver, what is the use of that car? A computer machine. Unless the man knows how to work it, pushes the button, it does not work. So practically we are seeing that without superior energy, the material energy does not act. Still they'll not believe it. Therefore in this wonderful cosmic manifestation, there must be handling of a superior energy. And that they do not know. They are amazed with this material arrangement. Just like a foolish person is amazed by seeing the mechanical, big machine. So many parts. But another person knows that, however wonderful machine it may be, unless the operator comes and pushes the button, it will not work. This is intelligence. Therefore who is important? The operator or the machine?
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is my point. You have to worship somebody superior. Now it is up to you to select who is that superior. But the principle is there. Now so many political parties, they have selected one god. Somebody has selected Churchill. Somebody has selected Gandhi. Somebody has selected somebody, somebody. But they must have to select. Our proposition is: "If you are selecting somebody to worship, why not the perfect? Why you select the imperfect?" That is our Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You have to do it. You have to select somebody as your leader. You cannot do without it. So the answer is that if you are selecting somebody to worship, Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā: mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7). "There is nobody superior than Me." Then why not go to the best person? Why should we go to the inferior?
Karandhara: For all the six opulences, they will choose someone.
Prabhupāda: Eh? Eh?
Prabhupāda: No, how can you say rascal? Then you are rascal immediately. There is so much difference. Then immediately you talk like rascal. There is difference. You have to accept superior, inferior. Just like two things. When you go to purchase something the shopkeeper gives you, "Here is superior." Although there is no difference, but there is difference of superiority and inferiority. That you have to accept. Therefore you pay more price to the superior. How there is no difference? This is another rascaldom. You have to distinguish between superior and inferior.
Karandhara: Well, they say it is all made up of the same elements.
Prabhupāda: That is all right, but do why you pay more? That is difference. Question is difference. You have to accept difference. Why do you pay more for the superior thing? That is difference. Why do you pay more respect to a superior person? That is difference. Mr. Nixon is also a human being, you are also human being. But if Mr. Nixon immediately comes, we shall all pay him respect. Why? That is difference.
Karandhara: That's all on the same plane.
Prabhupāda: That's all not. That not all. He is the superior, He is getting respect. Therefore he is not equal to you. You cannot say that. You may say... A rascal may say that "A superior person is as good as I am." But people will not accept it. People will say, "No, you are a rascal. He is an intelligent." Although you have got two hands, he has got two hands, that doesn't matter. So you must distinguish between superior and inferior. We say it is one, but superior and inferior.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: But in other words, the matter cannot grow without a living force.
Prabhupāda: No, that is another branch of, I mean to say, accepting matter as life. We have to distinguish them, that life is superior than matter. That we have to accept. You cannot say both of them are all the same. No. We have to distinguish them as superior, inferior.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: That is why the scientists, when they are trying to find out the origin of life, they are concerned only on the matter, the elements, chemical elements and the chemical compounds, the molecules, not on the superior energy.
Prabhupāda: That's a fact. I have several times explained that in higher sense there is no matter. Did I not? So life and matter equal, that can be accepted, but there is superior and inferior position. Just like Kṛṣṇa is life, I am also life. Kṛṣṇa is also person, I am also person. Kṛṣṇa has got... What Kṛṣṇa, propensities He has got, I have also got. Kṛṣṇa wants to love another girl, so I want to love. A girl wants to love another boy, so Rādhārāṇī wants to love Kṛṣṇa. So everything qualitatively are all equal, but Kṛṣṇa can marry at a time millions of wives. You cannot maintain even one wife. That is the position. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaḥ, Vedas say. That is the difference. He is life, I am also life. All the life symptoms, there is in Kṛṣṇa and there is in me, but still I am inferior, He is superior. And that is the law, that the inferior should be subordinately serving to the superior. Therefore we want to..., our business is to serve Kṛṣṇa, although qualitatively we are one. That inferior, superior, that is the difference between God and the living entity.
Prabhupāda: This matter... You can understand by the finger. This matter, this nail, is production of this part. This part is life and this part is not life. But it is a production of this life. When you have cut your nails, you don't feel pain. But same instrument you touch your little, half inch down, immediately you feel pain. So therefore although qualitatively... This is also produced of matter, as produced of this part. But where there is feeling, that is spiritual, and where there is no feeling, that is matter. What is Kṛṣṇa consciousness? The human being is the same. But as soon as he feels that "There is Kṛṣṇa," he is spiritualist. As soon as he does not feel, he is materialist. That is the difference. It is the question of feeling. Matter means where there is absence of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In other things there is also consciousness. Because there is not Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is material. And so far we are concerned, we have got the same consciousness, but Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore we are superior, spiritual. So this material world means this part, and spiritual world means this part. This is the difference. Here you have got feeling. So the conclusion is when you have feeling in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is spiritual, that is superior. When you have no feeling of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is inferior. The same thing can be turned into superior and inferior by the change of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Prabhupāda: According to Vedānta philosophy, every living entity is searching after delight. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). By nature, a living entity is delightful, but he has been covered by this temporary material covering, and therefore his delightness is perverted. So our philosophy, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness philosophy, is that paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59). If you give him better delight, then he can give up this inferior delight of material enjoyment. Otherwise, simply by instructing that "You give up this," it is difficult.
Buddhist Monk (1): That's right. You are... One has to... (Sanskrit or Pali:) Śambhuḥ pāpas cākāraṇa, kuśalasya upasampada sac citto parayodapanam etaṁ buddham anuśāsana. (?) Abstain from the unwholesome, the source of all our problems and suffering, lobha, doṣa, moha. Kuśalasya upasampada. Practice the virtues, that is when the mind is rooted in alobha, that is nongreed, liberality, including hospitality; adoṣa, nonhatred, evil, all-loving kindness; amoha opanya (?) wisdom. And why? When one is on the noble, eight-fold path-right understanding, right thinking, right speech, right bodily action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration—there is that oozing joy and delight. And that is the finest substitute. Men, because of avidyā, have not tasted delight. Because of his weakness, they thought mokṣa,... (knock on door)
Prabhupāda: Ah, na patiḥ. And one should not become husband also. Because husband is supposed to be instructor to the wife. Husband is the guardian of the wife. So he's responsible for her spiritual advancement. As much as the father is responsible for the spiritual advancement of his child, the spiritual master is responsible... Anyone who is claiming to be superior, he should be responsible for the inferior's spiritual advancement of life. So the conclusion is that they should not claim to become such and such unless they are able to save the subordinate from the imminent danger of death. Because death is there so long one is not spiritually advanced. As soon as one is spiritually advanced, he goes to the spiritual world, transferred. Mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām (BG 9.25). Spiritually advancement means to be transferred to the spiritual world. So this is the main business of the father, of the husband, of the spiritual master, of the king, of the guardian, of kinsmen. Everyone should be alert: "Whether I am helping my subordinate in the spiritual advancement of life." Because that will save him from the repetition of birth and death. And otherwise, what benefit you can do? If he's under the laws of karma, if he's going to become a cat or dog in next life, what help you have given to him? If he's under the laws of karma, then your help is no use. Your help is no use.
Prabhupāda: Just like you have got the desire to purchase another dress, garment, nicer, but if you have no money, then how you can purchase? You have to purchase something inferior. So these different species of life is the evolution of the living soul according to his karma. That is Vedic instruction. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). So I am a living entity. If I want to go to better condition of life, then I'll have to pay for it. Better condition is there already. Not this inferior condition changes into that better condition. That is another thing. Just like the condition in moon planet is different from the condition of this earthly planet. That is already there. You have to transfer yourself from this planet to that planet. So that point is missing in Darwin's theory. He says that body is evolving. That is nonsense. The body is evolving, then why the monkey body is not producing a human body at the present moment? Where is the evidence? The monkeys are already there. Where is the evidence in the zoo that a monkey has produced a human being? Do you think it is all right?
Prabhupāda: Yes. That number is matter. Living entity is always superior. So if in the inferior quality, matter, it is possible, how much it is possible in the superior quality.
Yaśomatīnandana: And they also admit that they're limited, they also admit that they are fallible, so they also...
Prabhupāda: Because it is matter, it is limited, always limited. Although it appears unlimited.
Karandhara: They say they're limited but their process is not.
Prabhupāda: Ah?
Karandhara: They say their process, the scientific process, is not limited.
Prabhupāda: That is another nonsense. If you are limited, how you can manufacture process... (break) ... is bogus.
Prabhupāda: That, then, then, the superior nation can kill inferior nation. Why you have made the United Nations?
Karandhara: It just encourage animalism, animal dominance.
Prabhupāda: Animalism. That is... Then it becomes "Might is right," not "Right is might."
Umāpati: In the Bible, Prabhupāda, there is a statement that many people follow, saying that, where Jehovah says, "Man shall have dominion over the animals, over the fishes and..."
Prabhupāda: That is already there. But that does not mean man should kill them.
Prof. Wolfe: And Jesus did not reverse it.
Hṛdayānanda: Just like a man has dominion over his children.
Prabhupāda: Yes. A father-mother has dominion over the children. Does it mean that he shall kill him?
Umāpati: And eat them?
Prabhupāda: Yes. This is all rascals.
Karandhara: They would say the psychology of that is that you're suffering from an inferiority complex.
Prabhupāda: Eh. You are inferior. You are being kicked every moment by the laws of nature. How do you claim that you are superior? Why you are covering? Because you are kicked by the laws of material nature.
Umāpati: There's no complex.
Prabhupāda: There is no question... You have to cover yourself.
Bali Mardana: They say that...
Prabhupāda: How do you say you are superior? You are inferior. As soon as you cover your body, you are inferior.
Karandhara: They say, "Well, we, I made this hat. So whatever inferiorities I have, I can conquer them by my intelligence."
Prabhupāda: But that intelligence, superior intelligence will never come to you. You'll always remain inferior.
Hṛdayānanda: What about death?
Karandhara: They say, "Well, we, I made this hat. So whatever inferiorities I have, I can conquer them by my intelligence."
Prabhupāda: But that intelligence, superior intelligence will never come to you. You'll always remain inferior.
Hṛdayānanda: What about death?
Prabhupāda: Yes. We are always inferior.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: They will prolong death.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: They will prolong death. They're trying to prolong.
Prabhupāda: "They're trying."
Svarūpa Dāmodara: A bit longer.
Prabhupāda: Death.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Ultimately, find there is no death.
Prabhupāda: Must be varieties. If in this inferior nature there are so many varieties, so how many superior varieties are there. That you can simply think of. That is acintya. Even in this material world, there are different planets. One planet is superior than the other planet. The inhabitants of one planet are far, far superior than other planets. Just like there is a planet which is called Siddhaloka. Here, in this planet, people practice mystic yoga for getting so much wonderful power. They are naturally... Here also we see. Just like if I want to fly I cannot. But another small bird, he'll fly. Is it not? I... If I have to live within the water, I have to make so much arrangement. But a small fish is in the big ocean; he's living there. Yes. So... But because one bird is flying in the sky without any machine, it does not mean that he has become superior to me. But comparatively I see it has got superior power. So these varieties are there. You cannot deny it. So similarly, as in this planet we are trying to get some mystic power by yoga practice, there, in other planets, it is automatically there. They do not require any machine from going one planet to another. They can simply, by will, they can go. Even in this yog... in these material planets, this planet also, there are yogis. They take early in the morning bath in four places, at Jagannātha Purī, at Rāmeśvaram and what is called, Haridvar?
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Dr. Patel: I, but, this is naturally me, if I see, of course... Then naturally... The great Jesus Christ, great bhakta of God. (some other men talk in background) But Christians, they have, they are...
Prabhupāda: No, no. These, they may be low grade. They may be inferior, but if we are superior, we must act as superior.
Dr. Patel: That's right.
Prabhupāda: That is our movement.
Dr. Patel: Your religion is extremely catholic.
Prabhupāda: Our catholic Kṛṣṇa consciousness—Kṛṣṇa says sarva-yoniṣu. Sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ yāḥ: (BG 14.4) "Any form of life, that is, I am the seed-giving father."
Dr. Patel: That's right, sir.
Prabhupāda: And how lovingly they come to take little prasādam. I was thinking that...
Prabhupāda: Yes. There is nothing. Abheda. Because it is admitted that bhinnā prakṛtir me aṣṭadhā. So this is śakti. And śaktimat is Kṛṣṇa. So when it is emanating from Kṛṣṇa... Therefore it is called inferior. Inferior. Inferior. He does not say...
Indian 3: Because it is not possible without śaktimān.
Prabhupāda: Without śaktimān. (break)
Devotee: "...bodies, he attains to the Brahman conception. Thus he sees that beings are expanded everywhere." That's the same verse. But what does this mean, "thus he sees that beings are expanded everywhere"?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Everywhere there is living being. (break)
Dr. Patel: ...avyayaḥ, śarīra-stho 'pi kaunteya na karoti na lipyate.
Prabhupāda: So therefore it is decided that both these material elements and the soul, both of them are prakṛtis. One is superior; another is inferior.
Dr. Patel: Aparā prakṛti is soul.
Mr. Sar: No, no,...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Mr. Sar: Aparā is matter.
Prabhupāda: Matter, yes.
Dr. Patel: The para...
Mr. Sar: The para is the soul.
Prabhupāda: Para is the soul.
Mr. Sar: Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho. That is also prakṛti word.
Dr. Patel: Yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat (BG 7.5).
Dr. Patel: It animates the inferior prakṛti.
Prabhupāda: Yes, working, working. One is the worker, and another is the working ingredient, prakṛti.
Dr. Patel: Yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat.
Prabhupāda: Jagat. Because...
Dr. Patel: That means the jagat is being held by that.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Because... This Bombay city is important because there are so many para-prakṛtis. If there was no living entity, who cares for the Bombay city?
Dr. Patel: So living entity is the para-prakṛti.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Mr. Sar: Oh, living entity is the para-prakṛti.
Prabhupāda: Para. But prakṛti. But it is prakṛti. It is not puruṣa. Therefore this prakṛti is trying to become puruṣa here. That is illusion.
Prabhupāda: Yes. The jijñāsu and jñānī is almost the same thing. Anyway, so, so gṛhasthas are inferior because as soon as their distressed condition is over, they, they are no more interested.
Dr. Patel: They forget so.
Prabhupāda: They are no more interested. But these jñānīs and jijñāsu, because they want to know what is Kṛṣṇa, they continue. That is the difference.
Guest (1): Even jñānī and jijñāsu also?
Dr. Patel: Teṣāṁ jñānī nitya-yukta eka-bhaktir viśiṣyate.
Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. Jijñāsu is the beginner, and jñānī is realized. Jñānī is realized. Therefore he's better. But that jñānī does not mean that "I have become God." One who is situated in bhakti-yoga. Eka-bhaktiḥ.
Mr. Sar: Eka-bhaktiḥ.
Dr. Patel: "He is dear to Me, and I am dear to him." Jñānī.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: That's it. So from God's standpoint of view, we cannot take simply that simply to serve the human being is to serve God. Another point is that living entities, the service, according to Sanskrit conception, service is offered to the superior. And to the inferior, mercy. There are two words. Sevā, the Sanskrit word, sevā, and dayā. You know something of Sanskrit?
Monsignor Verrozano: Somewhat, yes.
Prabhupāda: Seva means service. So service is offered to the superior. And to the inferior or subordinate, we offer our compassion. So similarly, as we are eager to give service, similarly, we should be eager to be compassionate. So it is not very good idea. Just like in India they say, daridra-nārāyaṇa. Some nation, that to give service to the human being, and cut the throat of the animals. This philosophy is not good.
Monsignor Verrozano: Yes. I have something in the Bhagavad-gītā. If I am not wrong, in the Chapter Eighteen of Bhagavad-gītā, verse sixty-four, there is the affirmation that God loves man, "You are beloved for Me." And in some cases, we consider this affirmation as the very core of Indian religiosity, and we appreciate very much this affirmation of love of God for man.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Hṛdayānanda: How can it be that we're advancing if we can become a dog in the next life, is that it, or something inferior? Where is the question of progress?
Prabhupāda: What is that? No, by nature's way there is evolution, from dog to fox, fox to this, that, that. That is... There is a law. But again one can fall down. In this way one comes to the human form of body. That is the chance of self-realization. But if in the human form of life, he does not behave like a human being—he behaves like cats and dogs—then he gets again cats and dogs. So if by his work, he gets degradation to get the body like a dog, then again it will take millions of years to come to the human form of life. Therefore intelligent man should be very careful. He should not say, "I don't care." That is very risky life.
Professor (Hṛdayānanda): He's saying that he thinks that not everyone's looking for God, but people should be asked whether they want to be something different than what they are, and he thinks we need something practical, not simply something of faith.
Prabhupāda: Therefore I say that every practical things are there in the Bhagavad-gītā. You ask any question and the solution is there.
Prabhupāda: Yes, this is the chance, human body. If you want to know, you can know. Here is the chance.
Young man: Is there a way of knowing that the body you inhabited before was of a inferior quality than the one you're inhabiting now, or...
Prabhupāda: Inferior quality, just like cats and dog. That is inferior quality.
Young man: Yeah, is there a way of knowing whether you're on the way up or you're falling?
Prabhupāda: Yes. You... Just like you infect some disease. Then it is sure that you are going to grow that disease. And if you don't infect, then you don't grow that disease. Do you know this, infection? Disease infection?
Young man: Yes.
Prabhupāda: So, if you don't infect a certain disease, then you don't grow it. And if you infect... Therefore you must know or you must know the rules and regulation, how you can save yourself from infection. If you are ignorant and if you infect some disease, epidemic, then you have to suffer. If you remain disinfected, then you don't get inferior body, you get superior body, in other planets. Or you can go back to home, back to Godhead.
Prabhupāda: Many. Just like Vyāsadeva. There is no comparison of his literature. One cannot write one line like him. But he was living in a cottage. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, such a great politician, he was living in a cottage. He did not keep any Rolls Royce car or like that. Rather, this material opulence is impediment to understand God. So it is not that I say, comparatively inferior, not that material opulence is also another check, no. Neither poverty is check nor material opulence is check. Anyone can understand if he follows the principle or process.
Guest: Process as laid down in Gītā?
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is the ABCD. Then you can go further on. If you read Bhagavad-gītā as it is, there is everything explained, everything. All problems are solved. Any problem you propose, there is solution in the Bhagavad-gītā. Now this poverty, as you raised this question, poverty, so what is written there in the Bhagavad-gītā? Annād bhavanti bhūtāni (BG 3.14). This is instruction, that "You produce food grain." Now, suppose Calcutta is a big city. Who is producing food grain? Everyone is trying to purchase food grain. But who is thinking that "Wherefrom the food grain will come?" Just see the foolishness of the people. You have to produce food grain. And there is ample facility. But throughout the whole world there are hundreds and thousands of cities. Now, who is producing food grain? The solution is there in the Bhagavad-gītā.
Prabhupāda: Yes, the body is machine.
Jesuit: All inferior (indistinct).
Prabhupāda: Yes, body is matter.
Jesuit: Body is matter.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Jesuit: But a person is more than just matter. I'm more than matter.
Prabhupāda: No, the person, just like... that is... If a man is sitting on a Rolls Royce car, he's thinking, "Very important." And a man sitting on some ordinary car, he's thinking, "I am poor." But as man, both of them (are) equal. Falsely, because he is sitting in a particular type of car, he is thinking, "I am bigger."
Jesuit: Yes, I can see I agree with all that.
Prabhupāda: So the soul is the same. So there is no difference, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7), find out this verse. Soul is the part and parcel of the supreme soul, Supersoul, God.
Prabhupāda: That depends on God. God is fully independent. He may not like. You cannot force Him. But it is our duty to request Him. You cannot force Him. If He likes... If He does not like, that is His will, because He is the supreme will. But God likes. If a devotee requests Him something, He likes to accept. That is God's mercy. He takes the devotee's prayer very seriously. Therefore our another process is to take the shelter of a devotee first. Because even one is inferior, not to be accept by God, but if a devotee requests, "God, kindly accept this fellow," God accepts. Mercy of saintly... Kṛpā-siddha. The Sanskrit word is kṛpā-siddha. He becomes perfect by the mercy of devotee.
Jesuit: What was the meaning of the bag you wear on your hand?
Prabhupāda: These chanting. Beads.
Jesuit: Oh, beads in there.
Prabhupāda: Yes. I think in Christian there are beads also.
Jesuit: I saw them in the picture, they had'em, and I didn't know what it was.
Prabhupāda: This is covering of the beads because we put here, there may be some dust. So to show respect to the beads, we keep it covered. We do not touch on the floor. It is awe and veneration.
Guest 2: I think the problem in western society, because in western society if you're not the head, then you're inferior.
Prabhupāda: Hmm?
Guest 2: If you're not the head, you're inferior. In Indian society that's not so.
Prabhupāda: Who shall be the head?
Guest 2: All want to be heads, in one way or another.
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Amogha: He says that we all want to be heads.
Prabhupāda: No. That is a very good idea, but the leg is also required. If you simply keep the head and there is no leg, then it is incomplete. Everything is required. To keep the body fit you require head, you require arms, you require belly, you require leg. That is the system of varṇāśrama-dharma. In India you have heard that there is a class, brāhmaṇa. Now it is now broken. But this is the Vedic civilization, that one class of men should be the brāhmaṇas, first class. One class of man should be kṣatriya, the administrators, politicians.
Woman reporter: Would you say that women are inferior to men?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Woman reporter: Why?
Prabhupāda: By physiological condition. Just like you are. Your bodily features are different from the man's features. You cannot deny it. So according to the bodily features, the psychological condition and everything is there. How you can deny it?
Woman reporter: Do you think that I am inferior to you?
Prabhupāda: It is not the question of inferior or superior. Different. Now you take one inferior or superior. That is your calculation. But the bodily features are different. That is material. But spiritually, they are all one. Materially... Just like your bodily feature and a man's bodily feature is different. Now, so far question of inferior, superior, that is your calculation. But we say that by nature, a woman and man is different.
Woman reporter: What does this mean as far as whether women can do the same things that men can do, or whether women can lead people?
Brahmānanda: They're like city council men. But in this case it's a city councilwoman. So she has refused to come because the comment... There has been a lot of publicity created. (laughter) So they are speaking on the radio that "The Swamiji has come to solve all the problems by saying that woman is inferior to men."
Prabhupāda: Yes, that's a fact. (laughter) So what the man says?
Harikeśa: They are being quiet. They are too afraid to say.
Prabhupāda: That means they are accepting. When they are quiet... Quiet means... Maunaṁ śammati lakṣaṇam. If there is some argument and you remain quiet that means indirectly you accept.
Harikeśa: They are thinking that if the man were to speak out, then he would not be able to get his sex pleasure. The woman would withhold sex pleasure from the man if he were to speak out.
Prabhupāda: No, that is not possible. At least in America, I know, they pay man for sex pleasure. Is it not a fact? Eh?
Jagadīśa: I didn't hear, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: Sometimes woman pays man for sex pleasure.
Brahmānanda: In that sense we can say that the women are inferior, but the men also, they are not first-class.
Prabhupāda: That we also said, that there is no first-class men. So if there is first-class man, then whole question is solved.
Jagadīśa: The men are behaving just like dogs.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Brahmānanda: Today in the hotel where we went there was one barber shop. And the name of the barber shop was "The home of the dog."
Prabhupāda: Ācchā?
Brahmānanda: Yes.
Prabhupāda: What is the meaning?
Brahmānanda: Well, the idea is that the haircuts of the men are so long, they look like...
Prabhupāda: Dog.
Prabhupāda: That is the word, puruṣottama. Puruṣottama means supreme or superior. So there must be inferior, otherwise, how he is superior? Is it not?
Prof. Hopkins: Hm.
Prabhupāda: As soon as he is the superior, professor, or the, what is called? Junior or senior. As soon as called senior, there must be junior. Without junior there is no question of senior.
Prof. Hopkins: So that the Puruṣottama always stands beyond, always, is other, in addition to be in also everything that there is.
Prabhupāda: Unless He is eternally there, then how the devotee will eternally, nitya-yukta upāsana, whom to worship? Nitya-yukta upāsana. Unless Puruṣottama is everlasting Puruṣottama then where is the question of worship everlasting? So the Māyāvādīs, they do not understand.
Prof. Hopkins: Well, would you... Do you equate then the impersonalists and the Māyāvādīs? Are they the same?
Prabhupāda: Almost the same.
Prabhupāda: Lord Rāmacandra worshiped His devotees. Just like sometimes Kṛṣṇa worships Rādhārāṇī and touched His feet..., Her feet. That does not mean that Kṛṣṇa... Just like Kṛṣṇa was tolerating ear pulling by Mother Yaśodā. That does not mean that Mother Yaśodā is the Supreme. Hm? Kṛṣṇa was carrying the wooden shoes of Nanda Mahārāja. So that does not mean Nanda Mahārāja is greater than Kṛṣṇa. It is Kṛṣṇa's pleasure. Just like sometimes a father takes the son on the shoulder, carries. Does it mean the father is inferior than the son? So this is third-class man's conclusion. They do not know what is Kṛṣṇa, what is Rāma. Kṛṣṇa says that aham ādir hi devānām (Bg 10.2). So He is the origin of Lord Śiva. So how Śiva can be the Supreme? We have to consult śāstra. Kṛṣṇa does not say that Śiva is Supreme. So if a third-class man says Śiva is Supreme, we have to accept it? We are preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Whatever Kṛṣṇa says, that is Supreme, not a third-class man's version. Is it clear? Yes. We should not take a third-class, fourth-class man's version. We should take from the śāstra.
Prabhupāda: That is a… That is a fact. India was practically following the Vedic culture. That's a fact. But now they have given up, so what Kṛṣṇa can do?They have been victimized. So if you give up your own culture…
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: But this propaganda is going on even here, that anything which is Indian is inferior, and anything which is European is good.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is the propaganda always. That is going on. That I already explained, that this was the propaganda of the Britishers, "Anything Indian is bad." You see, they wanted to stop our Ratha-yātrā in London as soon as they saw that it is becoming popular. Even in India the government doesn’t want that Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement should go ahead. It is the demonic principle—Kṛṣṇa should be cut down. That is the way of demonic civilization. Stop Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Now we are preaching, "No illicit sex, no intoxication, no meat-eating." Do you think people like it?
Prabhupāda: This kind of will not help them. No, no. That is the... That is there. They'll not know. Panthās tu koṭi-śatavatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puṅgavānām, so 'pyasti yat-prapada-sīmny avicintya tattve. Still it will remain inconceivable. These rascals, they do not know that. You have to simply hear from Kṛṣṇa that there is another atom, apareyam. These are inferior. Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām. There is another atom. What is that? That is jīva-bhūtaḥ. You have to take this knowledge from Kṛṣṇa, not by searching out. How you can find out one ten-thousandth part of it? It is not possible. You have no machine, no source of knowledge.
Brahmānanda: These particles that they have just recently found, the life-span is incredibly small, one-millionth of a trillionth of a second.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Brahmānanda: That's their life-span.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Life...
Prabhupāda: Time is eternity, but your formation is not eternity. Your formation is temporary. Time is eternity. (aside:) Thank you. No. Time is eternity, that's a fact, but your formation... Asann api klesada asa deha. It is temporary. That's all right. You know, I know, everyone. But it will simply give you pains, although it is asat. That you do not know. Time is... Body is temporary, but so long the body is there, you have to suffer. That body may be a ant's body or Brahma's body. So as soon as you get a material body, you have to suffer and go on examining urine and stool. (laughter) Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) ...and that is good wealth. And take some urine and find out, "Here is life." That's all. They are examining very scientifically. Why don't you...? The dead man's urine, if you examine and find out some injection and give it in life. Life is gone away, soul, and they are finding out life from the urine. (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. (break) ...but it is very reasonable. They are finding out out so many atoms, particles, but in the Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly said that all these atoms are aparā, inferior.
Prabhupāda: (laughs) And still you are proud. What is this nonsense? And supposing the chemical combination is there and is being administered in different way for different life, then who is making this arrangement? Somebody's there who is making arrangement. You cannot do that. Therefore we are inferior, He is superior. You have to accept. It is not that it is not existing. It is existing. So as you are trying to do something, somebody has already done it. Then what is your credit?
Haṁsadūta: On the one hand, they say that the creation was a chance, accident, and on the other hand, they're trying to find the law of nature. So this is a contradiction.
Prabhupāda: Just see. And the law. Just see. And law, law, nature is not giving him chance. And he's depending on chance theory. He's so unfortunate rascal that he does not get even the chance. So discuss these things in different ways and issue a small pamphlet in Russian language. Or any language. Doesn't matter.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: The principle should be that you should not leave remnants of food. As soon as it is used, it should not be used more. Otherwise it is not possible to give up. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59). I am eating something not very superior, but if I get the chance of eating something superior, then I give up this inferior. So there is no question of making it vacant or void. To fill up the place with better thing.... So when you think of Kṛṣṇa, then you forget māyā. Otherwise you are entrapped with māyā. Why Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto? Mām eva ye prapadyante. This is wanted. As soon as you become anyābhilāṣī, then it becomes difficult. Where is that knife? Give me one amroot(?). Cut into pieces and get...
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think these are from the local..., growing here.
Prabhupāda: That we should be very careful, that we should think of Kṛṣṇa only, not of māyā, in everything. No more strength. Satataṁ kīrtayanto mām (BG 9.14). Avismṛti-kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ kṣinoty abhadrāṇi. We are in the abhadra, māyā. But avismṛti-kṛṣṇa-padaravindayoḥ kṣiṇoti. The thinking of māyā will gradually finish. Avismṛiti-kṛṣṇa-padaravindayoḥ kṣiṇoti... No, no, I said that you give these pieces, little, little. I'll do it myself. These pieces, this amroot(?), yes.
Prabhupāda: It is not for you. Kṛṣṇa says that "This is material; this is spiritual. This is superior; this is inferior." He is analyzing. There is no question of.... We have forgotten, therefore He is reminding, but still, we'll not take. That is rascaldom.
Dr. Patel: No, but still, we know that.... I mean, we know that this body is not we. We are jīvas. Still, every moment we know; still, we forget to act accordingly. That is what I mean to say, sir. We don't act accordingly.
Prabhupāda: No, no. That means the knowledge is not perfect. Yes.
Dr. Patel: Sthita prajñā.
Prabhupāda: Everything is explained so nicely in the Bhagavad-gītā. If you take simply, then you become man of knowledge.
Dr. Patel: Nijam ātmānaṁ brāhmaṇa-rūpam (?)(Sanskrit) But still, even at that time also, we think of what. That is a misfortune.
Prabhupāda: Where?
Prabhupāda: No, no, no. No. There is no question of jumping, but things should be realized as it is. Aparā... This is aparā. This is parā. So this is inferior; this is superior. That you have to admit.
Dr. Patel: This was the question of Nārada Muni himself in the beginning.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Yes. And it is explained about aparā-vidyā, antavat tu phalaṁ teṣāṁ tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām (BG 7.23). Therefore rascal, alpa-medhasa. Alpa means no brain, no brain.
Dr. Patel: They have got those questions of bhakti other than of Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Eh?
Dr. Patel: Alpa, alpa...
Prabhupāda: This aparā-vidyā.... Parā-vidyā means Kṛṣṇa. Parā-vidyā means Kṛṣṇa. So one who.... Unless one comes to the point of Kṛṣṇa, he is in the aparā-vidyā. And aparā-vidyā is meant for the less intelligent class of men. Tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām.
Dr. Patel: Then the whole question was, sir, here in Upaniṣad that...
Prabhupāda: Upaniṣad is parā-vidyā.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: They're trying to create a society where there are no superior-inferior.
Prabhupāda: That is not possible.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Classless society.
Prabhupāda: They are taking themselves the superior position to make it one.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: (laughs) Yes. That's a fact.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like some of the rascal swamis come here that "There is no teacher of.... No require teacher, no need of books."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Then why do we need them?
Prabhupāda: And these rascals are writing books, that "There is no need of book."
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That happened. One swami said, "Now you.... Meditation means don't think of anything." So then one of our men at the meeting raised his hand and said, "Then why do we need you?" So he got very angry. He said, "If the mind should do nothing, what do we need you for?"
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The spiritual body is identical with the soul. Here in the material world there is duality, inferior and superior. In the spiritual world everything is of a superior nature. There is no duality. There's no material.
Prabhupāda: Petrol smelling everywhere.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: It's from these automobiles, the exhaust. They say that in some cities like New York, just living in the city itself, it is like smoking two packs of cigarettes every day because of so much pollution in the air, so contaminated. (break)...in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that the cure for madness is open space and fresh air. That's Ayurvedic method. So in the cities there's all kinds of confined spaces, the air is not all clean. There's so much madness. (break)
Prabhupāda: (in car) Scientists are changing their theories, how we can accept? Reasonably? You are changing your theories, how we can accept you are scientist? You are not sure of your position. Philosophers also, they say "I believe." What is the meaning of this philosophy?
Prabhupāda: "...afraid of me, what kind of child? (laughs) Where you got so much strength?" And the answer here,
- na kevalaṁ me bhavataś ca rājan
- sa vai balaṁ balināṁ cāpareṣām
- pare 'vare 'mī sthira-jaṅgamā ye
- brahmādayo yena vaśaṁ praṇītāḥ
"Prahlāda Mahārāja said, 'My dear King, the source of my strength, of which you are asking, is also the source of yours, by which you are challenging. Indeed, the original source of all kinds of strength is one. He is not only your strength or mine, but the only strength for everyone. Without Him, no one can get any strength, whether moving or not moving, superior or inferior. Everyone, including Lord Brahmā, is controlled by the strength of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Prabhupāda: Did you not say that we have got something; the pleasure derived from all these things, that is very inferior. We have got pleasure of superior quality. Therefore we have been able to give it up. That is the fact. But you have no information of the superior pleasure. Therefore sticking to this inferior pleasure.
Mādhavānanda: In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, when Dakṣa cursed Lord Śiva, he also said that statement that the materialists are always envious of the self-realized souls for their opulence of self-realization.
Prabhupāda: (break) ...nature is the mother. So is that correct or not?
Mādhavānanda: Yes, yes. Mother nature.
Prabhupāda: So mother is there and children are there; so why there is no father? They say there is no God. How it is possible? The mother is there and children are there. How it is that there is no father? What is the answer? They say there is no God, or no father?
Mādhavānanda: They say that there may be God, but no one has even seen Him.
Prabhupāda: You might not have seen your father; does it mean there is no father?
Prabhupāda: Very good idea, yes. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59). The nature is if we get better engagement, we give up inferior engagement. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate. So this will be an example. You are a Roman priest. You are educated, learned scholar also. So when you come to this movement, you do not come here by sentiment or by whims. You consider, then you have come.
Stansky: This is what I wanted to say, that I'm not here because of sentiment. I'm here for very, very sound reasons, and I want to explain the reasons.
Prabhupāda: Therefore we are presenting these books, that we are not a so-called sect of whimsical faith. It is based on science and authorities. Recently we have got report that our books have been taken in Hamburg University. You know Hamburg University?
Stansky: Yes.
Prabhupāda: As their textbook for Sanskrit class. They found it so wonderful. Because for Sanskrit scholar it is good opportunity to learn Sanskrit, because each word we have given in English and German synonyms.
Prabhupāda: Yes, matter is utilized for the purpose of spirit soul. Otherwise matter has no independent existence. The whole thing is matter, but it is formed according to the desire of the spirit.
Hari-śauri: So if matter is inferior to the spirit soul, then isn't it correct to say that the spirit soul is more complex or sophisticated than matter? If matter is inferior?
Prabhupāda: Spirit soul is living. Naturally he has got desires. That is not complexity. That is a symptom of life.
Rūpānuga: Matter has no desire.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: So matter seems, we say, more complex, but still is inferior.
Prabhupāda: It is made complex to serve some purpose.
Rūpānuga: It keeps the living entity forgetful of Kṛṣṇa. It makes māyā for the living entity; he forgets Kṛṣṇa with all the complexities.
Prabhupāda: Physically, everything is being done by heat and light. So fire is heat and light. The fire is not complex, heat and light but with heat and light everything is going on. You have physical subject matter of study, heat and light?
Rāmeśvara: But that will increase. You can get ten thousand, twenty thousand dollars for one painting in the future, because they are paying that much now for inferior work.
Prabhupāda: Who is painting nice? Muralī?
Rāmeśvara: Muralīdhara, Jadurāṇī, Parīkṣit.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Parīkṣit is wonderful.
Prabhupāda: Parīkṣit, yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. He's expert. We have one boy in the temple here who has been doing murals on the walls in the temple room, and he's done it very quickly with a technique called air-brush. Instead of using a brush, you use a spray gun, and you spray the paint on. It's a modern technique. It's especially good in murals and things.
Prabhupāda: First of all they draw in lines?
Prabhupāda: There are two natures. One is material nature; one is spiritual nature. The material nature, earth, water, fire, air, sky, mind, intelligence, ego, and beyond that apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām. This is inferior nature. Beyond this, there is a superior nature. And that superior means, jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat (BG 7.5). That is the living entity. This big universe, this is material. But the living entities, because they are using this material for their so-called advancement, comforts... And because they have the power to utilize these material matters for their own purpose, they are superior. This is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. And because this nature is being utilized, one is being utilized and one is utilizer. The utilizer is the superior, and the things utilized, they are inferior, but both of them are nature, God's nature. This is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā.
Dr. Kneupper: Is there time in the higher nature?
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Dr. Kneupper: Is there time?
Prabhupāda: No. Higher nature means eternal.
Prabhupāda: Changes when he gets into this material, inferior nature. He has to change the body, one circumstance to another, another, another, according to his desire. Just like you get a lump of dirt. You can mold it. You can make a pot. You can make a doll. So we are doing that. Child. The father has given birth to the child and father has given the child a lump of earth and he's playing. That's all. For both of them, the father is the proprietor. If the child wants to play, father says, "All right, play." So he's sometimes breaking, sometimes crying, sometimes laughing. This is going on.
Dr. Kneupper: Then he goes back.
Prabhupāda: Yes, if he gets sense. Therefore the father comes, that "You give up all this nonsense. Come home."
Prabhupāda: Yes. Not... Meat-eating is third-class man's eating. It is not denied. Amedhya. But to give us our life, don't kill cows, because it gives you milk, very substantial food. If you want to eat meat, you can eat the hogs and dogs. But don't kill the cows. Kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyam (BG 18.44). This is special. It is not forbidding meat-eating, but don't eat cows' flesh. That is loss. It is a great loss to the human society. If they do not have sufficient milk production, then their brain will be dull. They will not be able to understand subtle things. Therefore it is better to avoid it. But if you cannot avoid, you can eat some inferior, useless animals. But don't touch the cows. This is Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa says, go-rakṣya. He never says, "Pig rakṣya." You can eat pig. You can eat the goats, the lambs. There are so many small useless animals. They are eating dogs also. The Chinese people, they eat dogs. So you can eat dogs, hogs, so many other animals. But don't touch the cows. This is God's instruction. And they are advertising that "These Hindus, they are so fool, they are worshiping an animal, a cow." They do not know what is the economic value of this cow. In the beginning of your life you want milk immediately in the morning.
Guest (1): No, sir, there you are also correct. I would say this, that these American boys and young girls who have come here, because this, our mind is conditioned into inferiority complex or slave-minded person, everything which is adopted there must be...
Prabhupāda: No, we are also slaves, but we are slave of the right person.
Guest (1): Yes, of the Supreme.
Prabhupāda: That is the difference. And they are slaves of their senses. That is the difference. We are not master. We are also slaves. But we are slaves of the person who is perfect, and they are slaves of their senses.
Guest (2): The spread of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement in Bombay in the last three, four years has been... I don't know, you may not be satisfied, but I think it's quite good.
Prabhupāda: No, it will be good. If people take to it little seriously, it will be good. Therefore we are spending so much money, that "You come, you all respectable and educated people. Come, try to understand and spread it for the benefit of your country."
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes. Mind is subtle matter. Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir.... Bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā (BG 7.4). They are separated five material energies. Apareyam. They are inferior. Those who are in the mental platform, they are also inferior. The so-called philosopher, scientist and others, they are on the mental platform. Therefore they're inferior. Apareyam. These eight elements, those who are dealing with these eight elements, apara, inferior. And they are advertising that "We are superior." "The spiritual consciousness is brainwashed. We are superior." This is the fault. Of the inferior position, they are claiming superior position. Apareyam itas tu... And Kṛṣṇa is giving practical example: "Apareyam: this is inferior. Beyond this there is a superior nature. What is that? Jīva bhūta." Immediately. And still the rascal cannot understand what is superior, inferior. (Indian lady converses in Hindi with Prabhupāda) Chase after them, "Get out! Get out! Your visa is finished." (Hindi) Hundred cases. Hundred times hundred.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: The quality's only a little inferior.
Prabhupāda: I don't think India can make such quality.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: But the Gītā we did came very close, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: It may come to close, but not to... Then that's all right. If it is possible, we can...
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Like Jayatīrtha wrote to me. He prefers the Indian Gītā to the American because it is economical.
Rāmeśvara: Because it is... Yes, because of the price.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. We all have to be realistic. The price...
Prabhupāda: Now Jayatīrtha is going first in selling, more than anyone.
Rāmeśvara: During the... During one week of Christmas he defeated Los Angeles. (Prabhupāda chuckles)
Jagadīśa: He's taking (indistinct).
Rāmeśvara: Oh, yes, he did.
Prabhupāda: In India, Bombay is best. There are many offset printing houses.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Like in the Bengali Back to Godhead they did in Calcutta, they spent eight paisa more per copy printing than Bombay, and quality was much inferior. So now I said, "You compose over there..."
Prabhupāda: Typeset is Delhi good, but offset-Bombay.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: So what I've told them, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is they can get the composing done in Bengal, Calcutta, then send it to me, like I get the Hindi composing done in Vṛndāvana and mail it to Bombay for printing. So it is cheaper and good quality, plus we have the whole department set up. One boy, Pippalai, he just takes care of technical aspects. And we have a shipping department all set up now. Two boys work just on the shipping.
Prabhupāda: So supply department keep in one place.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. And we have very good...
Prabhupāda: In other places it is...
Prabhupāda: Here is a lump of matter, some metal. It has been done by a living being; it is worked by living being; then it is working. And what is the value? Not even two paisa.
Hari-śauri: When they do their experiments in the laboratories they have to mix the chemicals themselves.
Prabhupāda: Everything is done by a living being. There must be touch by the living. Yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat (BG 7.5). He is... Understand this. He is manipulating this inferior material. It has not come automatically. There's brain. Brain means intelligence, human being. Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate ja... Find out this verse.
Prabhupāda: Apareyam... (break) ...inferior. These rascals, they do not. The superior thing they do not know. They are simply entangled in this material, inferior. Psychologist, psychiatrist. (sound of shenai) Now there is moon. Intelligence. Intelligence, I think, they take it as soul. Therefore they say that the animal has no soul.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But an animal has intelligence. An animal also has some small degree of intelligence.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: You were saying the cows, when they know there is something there, they stay away.
Prabhupāda: No. They can understand that "These people are going to kill us. These people will not kill us." They can understand. You know that when I was in America some incident took place, that some slaughterhouse livestock, the..., somehow or other, it was open, and they were fleeing away, going away. Something happened. They were going up on the slaughterhouse, and some of them were shooted.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The cows were running away?
Prabhupāda: Concept of life is clear in the Bhagavad-gītā. That is also one of the elements, but superior element. The gross earth, water, air, fire, ether, even mind, intelligence, ego, they are inferior. And there is another superior item. That is living entity. It is clearly said. Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho (BG 7.5). And that is important because that living entity is handling this inferior. Very clear. Just like a good machine. That machine as it is, it is not important. A living entity has handled it. By handling, the machine is prepared, and by handling it is important. So who is superior, this matter or the person who is handling? And it's clear—yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat (BG 7.5). Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate. It is clear. And similarly, whole machine must be handled by a living creature. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carāca... (BG 9.10). Clear. How you can deny it? Taking this whole cosmic manifestation as machine... It is machine. We admit that. But it is being handled by a living being, the supreme living being. That is God. But they have no intelligence to understand, such a rascal civilization. Practically we are seeing. Mūḍhaḥ nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam. (bird chirping loudly) Stop.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Oh, yes. We are going to charge high also this time. That's going to be... It involves a lot of hard work, and the scientific community will be open for this type of.... We are not saying something dogmatic. We are presenting in such a manner that it's very scientific and it's ready for discussion. There's no way that they can check it, that "It's coming from this movement. So, no, that's no knowledge." It must be open. It must be open-minded. We must change our views. And if you feel that our views are inferior, then you tell us. If it's inferior, then there is no reason that you shouldn't take it seriously.
Prabhupāda: So when Bombay festival will go on, your presence will be required.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. I'll be coming... I already requested Girirāja to make a few engagements so that... I'd like them to speak. This time I will let them speak, our two scientists, because Americans. And I want to see the reactions also. I already know my situation there, and I want to let them speak, and they are very eager to do that. I already talked with them. So I requested Girirāja to make a few very high academic circles like Atomic Research Center. One of our men is very good in quantum physics. He can talk all about this mathematical formulations and a little bit about Bhagavad-gītā consciousness. So that would be...
Prabhupāda: That will be... (chuckles)
Prabhupāda: The difficulty is... That we do not know. Just like you take a fish from the water and put it on the land. It will never become happy. Again you throw him in the water, he will feel happy. So the living entity is different from prakṛti. In Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly stated, apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtim. These material elements, earth, water, air, fire, ether, mind, intelligence, ego, these are gross and subtle material elements. And the living being, jīva-bhūta, is superior than the inferior material elements. Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām. Parā-prakṛti, it is part and parcel of God. Unless we understand this fact, which is very nicely explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, this material adjustment will never make us happy.
Mr. Rajda: As far as this change is concerned, the basic difference is formerly there was no moral code observed by the rulers.
Prabhupāda: It can deteriorate at any moment.
Mr. Rajda: That interpretation is there, that is there.
Prabhupāda: You cannot say...
Prabhupāda: It is very easy. There is a superior element—life. On account of that superior element, the inferior element has got meaning. Otherwise it has no meaning.
Hari-śauri: No one serves a dead body. Push it in the ground and let it rot.
Prabhupāda: That superior element you cannot manufacture by combination of these inferior chemicals. That is also... If you take chemical, that is also chemical. But that chemical is superior. You cannot manufacture it by a combination of these inferior things. Therefore it is God.
Hari-śauri: It is actually such a clear and simple thing, but they become so complicated they can't understand.
Prabhupāda: They have made it complicated. Insufficient knowledge.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: They have been misguided.
Prabhupāda: Misguided, yes. With rascal leader. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ (SB 7.5.31).
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah. Bhavānanda Mahārāja and I were just discussing this morning... We were looking at the shining, and we were discussing the difference between this marble and kota stone. Kota stone is very much inferior.
Prabhupāda: Hm?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Kota, kota stone. You can never get it even smooth. It will always be uneven, because the stone is layers. So when they are polishing, some layers are higher than others. And marble is generally very first class.
Prabhupāda: You just don't hurry(?).
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: How long Bhavānanda should...? Now Upendra is here, I am wondering...
Prabhupāda: If he is intelligent, he can learn it in one day.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Otherwise, a few days. Bhavānanda was thinking at least four days he will remain. He has gotten a little bit attached to taking care of you.
Prabhupāda: So wipe this floor twice like this. Let him see. As he does very nicely, very nicely.
Prabhupāda: He is... Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), anādir ādir... Anādi. (Hindi) You have got so exalted knowledge in India. You have kept it packed. And you are going to beg from others? Take this knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā and assimilate it, make your life successful, and distribute it throughout the whole world. That I want. (Hindi) Knowledge, real knowledge, is in India. (Hindi) Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu said,
- bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra
- janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra
- (CC Adi 9.41)
Indians, they are fortunate. They have got their birth in Bhāratavarṣa. The knowledge is here. So assimilate this knowledge. Make your life successful and distribute it to persons outside India. That is paropakāra. That is real paropakāra. That is real sevā. But sevā, no. It is dayā. The sevā cannot be used. Sevā means offered to the superior. And to the inferior, if you want to do something, that is dayā. There are words. Sevā is only capable to accept, Kṛṣṇa. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ (Brs. 1.2.234).
Prabhupāda: That means ignorance, rascals. They are busy with something which is not his business. Then next question will be: then what is his business? If they actually read Bhagavad-gītā, his business is that to find out: "If I am going to change my body, what I am going to be?" Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). The body, after being finished, this body, I am not dead. I am going to change another body. So is it not my duty? Just like if I go somewhere, you see how that place, how it will be suitable for me, how I shall live there. Is it not duty? Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). I am not going to die. That, if I leave this compartment, I'm not going to die. I'll accept another compartment. But shall I not see what kind of compartment will be, whether it is better than this or inferior than this? Is it not my duty? That is my real problem. Or the actual problem is that if I am eternal, why I shall change body now and then? This is my problem. And Kṛṣṇa says that "If anyone does not take up My instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā, then he does not get Me, and the result is that he'll again turn to this change of body, mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartma..." So they are not careful about these things, so what do they understand about Bhagavad-gītā?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: So the distinction that we are making is still proper, that matter is the inferior part of that Absolute Truth, and life is the superior part, and without being manipulated...
Prabhupāda: Superior feature.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. But both are spirit in a sense.
Prabhupāda: Everything is spirit. Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma. Therefore I say there is no matter. Only matter means when the spirit is not discovered. When people are rascals, then there is matter. When people are intelligent, there is no matter. Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma. Therefore Māyāvādī philosophy, that "You are thinking you are not God," that is māyā.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Like a kīrtana party now, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: This is kīrtana, going on. You do not understand what is kīrtana. Any topics on Kṛṣṇa, that is kīrtana. Abhavad vaiyāsakī kīrtane. Vaiyāsakī, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he became perfect by kīrtana. What kind of kīrtana did he do? Hm?
Prabhupāda: And that is yato bhaktir adhokṣaje. That is the first citing. There are two kinds of occupational duty. The one is inferior, going down, and other is superior, go back to home.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Satisfaction of the soul, Śrīla Prabhupāda just mentioned.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: So the Adhokṣaje.
Prabhupāda: Adhokṣaje. Yato bhaktiḥ. When you become a devotee, then you'll go.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: That is required.
Prabhupāda: That is the aim of life. So everything is explained in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And then these unfortunate rascals, they are distorting. What can I do? How to stop it?
Devotee (3): But they will argue, "Why should we accept that there will be a next life?"
Prabhupāda: Rascal, why you are accepting old age? You are young man. You have to accept, become. Why you are accepting, rascal? Answer this.
Prabhupāda: That should not be his business. It may be inferior. If not inferior, not with the... Then it is mentioned in the... (break) Still more. (break) And that is all written, Hindi, English. They can go home to home and distribute Hindi books to the ladies. They can be engaged in that way. (break) Therefore any so-called yogi (indistinct).
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We are delivering unadulterated. Here is another report from Haṁsadūta. (break)
Prabhupāda: ...to exhibit, you have to pack. Do it nicely. Kṛṣṇa will bless you. (break) ...and book for all men. That is important. People may... (breaks)
Śatadhanya: Nectarean.
Prabhupāda: And this means that ambrosia. And you are all Mohinī-mūrti, distributing ambrosia. These scriptures should be brought to the (indistinct) system, and they'll get opportunity to meet with them. So how...?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yeah, I also... It could mean... According to Gopāla, from Africa, that prasāda...
Prabhupāda: Prasāda from...
Prabhupāda: And they are getting Nobel Prize. Just see. Such rascals. And we say on the authority of Bhagavad-gītā, apareyam. This is inferior and that is superior. So how you can make superior with inferior ingredients?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Impossible. Without the superior touch the inferior cannot have any life.
Prabhupāda: That's a fact. They're seeing every moment.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Everything has movement... If it's matter it only moves because of some superior force, living force, pushing it or entering it or something.
Prabhupāda: The superior energy is utilizing inferior energy for His purpose. You are utilizing this inferior, the lump of matter, for serving my purpose. That is superior energy. It cannot use me for its purpose.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: It has no purpose.
Prabhupāda: No. I can use it for my purpose. Therefore I am superior. (aside:) Come on.
Prabhupāda: Bone is being separated from life. Here, by example, the matter is different from life. Matter is inferior; life is superior. From my life you can... Why the Persian people love me?
Ātreya Ṛṣi: They respect your philosophy, Śrīla Prabhupāda. They understand the philosophy. They respect the philosophy.
Prabhupāda: Very good.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: They respect chanting. They see that your boys are pious and they're chanting the names of God and they're doing wonderful things, and they respect it. They see your books, wonderful philosophy, always glorifying God. They respect God. They're religious.
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes.
Ātreya Ṛṣi: And they know that nobody else is doing this.
Prabhupāda: Persians, they are Aryans. When they were attacked by the Muhammadans they fled from Persia to India. (break)
Prabhupāda: So take care of the bones as long as possible. Real life is here. Always remember that. And material world means there are simply all protecting bones and flesh together. They have no idea what they are.(?) Bones and flesh... Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). Apareyam. It is useless. Not useless-inferior. Real? That jīva-bhūta, which is sustaining. Thank you very much. Print books, and as I have given in my will, half, again print, and half spent for propaganda as you like. In this way go on. Jayapatākā, you are doing that?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Jayapatākā, are you doing that? Half spending and half for printing?
Jayapatākā: In Bengal, because the people are so poor, so there we are giving the book and just taking five or ten percent profit margin...
Prabhupāda: No, no.
Jayapatākā: ...for the small books, for propaganda purpose, so that we can reach many people.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Whatever propaganda require you spend, but print books and distribute. Whatever English book we have got, if we translate into Bengali, we have got enough stock.
Prabhupāda: He thinks, but it... It is not the fact.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: One is covered consciousness, matter. So it is inferior.
Prabhupāda: The covering matter is inferior.
Śatadhanya: How the Māyāvādī thinks that he can..., that the material energy is false when at every step he's baffled by the material energy?
Prabhupāda: That is his foolishness. Therefore Kṛṣṇa instructs, but he does not take. He wants to remain in māyā and at the same time claim that he is liberated.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Also, modern science tries to compromise... I'm sorry: Māyāvādīs try to compromise with modern science.
Prabhupāda: There is no other way. They cannot make a solution, so they must try to make a compromise.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. Just like when we say that spiritual atom or ātmā is innumerable in numbers, they immediately come up.
| Page Title: | Inferior (Conversations) |
| Compiler: | Mayapur, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 12 of Oct, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=76, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 76 |